And even though I ruined it which should make me ridiculously angry…(which I was for about 2 seconds)…I’m still still up to my eyeballs in giddy excitement because it’s soooo cool…well it will be if I can stop screwing it up!

About two years ago one of my favorite bloggers Holly, did something really awesome with an old photograph of her grandmother. She blew it up super duper big into a life size poster and mounted it onto mdf with modge podge.

Here’s Holly’s brilliant artwork:

And hung up in her office.

Even if you aren’t interested in making a super duper big life size poster of a special someone, you should still go over and check out Holly’s post, you won’t be disappointed. A good friend of mine tipped me off to her blog – “Nothing But Bonfires” – which is a definite keeper. She does lots of fancy stuff to her house, is really funny and such a great writer.

Of course I wanted to make this pronto – mdf, modge podge, cheap…right up my alley. So I zipped over to Staples, and had one of my favorite pictures of Jess blown up before I even knew where I was going to put it.

This was the photo I chose in it’s blown up poster glory:

I think it’s important to point out I’ve had this little gem rolled up in my closet for a LOOOOONG time. But for some reason I got a bee in my bonnet Sunday night at 5:00 and told myself sternly that “this project needed to be finished asap”. Call me impulsive, impatient, and a little bit nutty – cause that’s what my husband called me – but I figured it was time to stop sitting on my haunches and get cracking.

Here’s how the next 48 hours unfolded:

I marched myself down to Home Depot, found my mdf, cut my finger (the bad language one), lost my keys, visited the first aid station in the lunch room, chatted with the employees while they drank coffee and enjoyed their break, found my keys in a box of spray cans, had a kindly gentleman – who also had a cut on his bad language finger – trim it to the correct dimensions, paid for it, made a joke to the people behind me who were buying a toilet – they didn’t laugh, brought it home – the mdf not the toilet, made dinner, ate, put the kids to bed, cleaned up, washed the dishes by hand because our dishwasher exploded, re-bandaged my finger, changed my clothes, primed my mdf, changed my clothes again, went grocery shopping, wasted time watching tv, did some work, went to bed.

I then sweet talked my husband into helping me hang the mdf Monday night at 7:30.

I proceeded to slather the entire thing with more modge podge found on a kindergarten craft table and smooshed my poster down as quickly as possible while listening to this:

Is that how you do it? There’s a big wrinkle here, here, there, down at the bottom, up at the top, across the middle, basically everywhere. Why does Jess get a poster? Will I get a poster? Can the dog sleep with me? How are you going to smooth those out? Do you have a card or something? Do you think 8:30 at night was the best time to be doing this? Aren’t you guys missing “The Voice”? Where’s the dog? Don’t let him eat the glue, he’ll puke. Are you going to fix those wrinkles? The dog’s under the bed, hurry get him, he might pee. Is that how big you made it? Why is it so big? Which picture will you choose for mine? I like it really big. Can you make mine the biggest? I want to make my own – cause your way has too many wrinkles. Do I have to wear my pyjamas? The dog peed on my jacket. I don’t like that picture of me, my hair is messy, why did you pick that picture? I wouldn’t fix it like that. Why don’t you smooth out the wrinkles? Are you going to leave it that way? You’re doing it wrong. Don’t peel it off you’ll rip it! Great you ripped it! Now I have no poster.

and finally….How much money did you just waste?

I almost showed them all the cut on my finger. But instead I took two seconds: ripped it off, crumpled it up into a ball and threw it out into the hallway, while yelling AHHHH!

It’s my own fault really, especially when impatient, and impulsive are my middle names. That’s why I limited my hissy fit to 2 seconds. And for the glorious 5 minutes it was up, it looked amazing. And that made me happy because I knew once I got it right it would be sheer awesomeness. So I will mosey back down to Staples at some point, dish out another 7 bucks for a replacement, and re-paste it onto my mdf at a leisurely pace.

3 thoughts on “A Day in the Life of a Lisa P Project”

Ha ha ha man that was so entertaining and very validating to watch your project get so messed up. Been there. And had to practice “letting go” and then spending money and starting again. Its extra satisfying when it finally works. At least for me! All the best! LH

Hi Laurel thanks for stopping by! I almost wished I’d had a video camera…it was all really funny! You’re right letting go is a big part of the whole process. And keeping expectations in check! I popped over to your blog and enjoyed looking at all your projects as well!